After a decade spent in their beautiful home, the 14,000 square-foot former Lewis Estate in Pellyn Wood, Suzie Trivisonno and her husband, Nick, knew it was time to downsize. And finding a lot in the country club to which they belonged seemed like an idyllic option. When a two-plus acre lot in Carmel Country Club became available between the ninth and tenth fairway, they jumped at the opportunity and reveled in the views and space.
Knowing they wanted to design a home of their own that combined both their backgrounds and their travels together, the couple called on a design dream team: architectural designer Frank Smith, custom home builder Phil Goodwin of Goodwin Classic Homes, and interior designer Kim Mauney.
“I had the privilege of serving Nick and Suzie ten years ago, just after they moved here from Key West and purchased the former Lewis Estate in Pellyn Wood,” Goodwin recalls. “We worked with architectural designer Frank Smith on extensive outdoor living improvements to that property and became friends. We continued to serve them through the years, and so welcomed the opportunity to build their new home on the Carmel Country Club golf course.”
Nick Trivisonno is from Brooklyn, Suzie Trivisonno from Santa Fe, and the pair has traipsed all over Europe with joy and keen eyes that fleshed out their vision for their new home. “The home was inspired by our backgrounds and our travels, as well as our love for entertaining and my passion for cooking. We wanted a lot of natural light and plenty of open spaces. We designed the kitchen we wanted first and challenged Frank to design the rest of our home around it,” Suzie Trivisonno says. Indeed, the kitchen was to be the heartbeat of the home, a place where she could cook (she’s been known to spend weeks planning beautiful and elaborate meals for entertaining) while still being engaged with her family and friends.
“In her previous home, the kitchen was cut off from other rooms and, as such, Suzie spent hours alone, cooking in the kitchen,” explains Mauney. “The new home layout had to have the kitchen at the center, with access to a grand living room where connections could easily be maintained with her guests.” Trivisonno knew she wanted a large island with a range hood and two glass-door Sub-Zero refrigerators. The kitchen design was an elegant space to store linens and china and a computer station with bookshelves for online research and her extensive cookbook collection. “A passionate home cook often knows exactly what he or she needs to operate smoothly in the space, and Suzie was no exception,” Mauney says. Behind the kitchen was a large scullery, with views to the garden and several appliance garages to hide countertop appliances and make the hidden work of plating food and cleaning dishes a breeze.
Once the kitchen design was finalized, the rest of the home fell into place. “Frank, Kim, myself, and the Trivisonnos collaborated as a close team to assemble a striking palette of interior finish materials, including reclaimed terra-cotta floor tiles from France, waxed plaster walls, reclaimed oak timbers for the ceiling, and rift-sawn oak cabinetry in a cerused oak finish,” Goodwin explains. “Exceptionally talented wood finisher Tony Montognese and his team worked on this home continuously for over six months, providing extraordinary finishes on the extensive wood surfaces throughout the home.”
In the beginning, Trivisonno was unsure if Mauney would be the best match for her aesthetic but quickly realized what many already know—that Mauney is adaptable and universal. “Kim is nothing short of amazing,” Trivisonno gushes. “She won me over as soon as we went to pick out marble for countertops and fireplaces. We made all our picks in less than thirty minutes! She had brilliant ideas, put up with our stubbornness at the outset, and offered suggestions that made the process quick and smooth.” She adds that some of their favorite parts of the home are because of Mauney’s design.
Emphasis was placed on clean lines, large oversized windows, simple cabinet design, modern appliances, and smooth plastered walls used in conjunction with reclaimed tile floors and a glorious woodpaneled ceiling. “Nick and Suzie wanted to build an interpretation of a modern French home that had elements of clean, modern living mixed with old-world French design,” Mauney says. “As such, the interiors were designed with this in mind, and we mixed antiques, clean-lined furniture, modern artwork, and old rugs, which resulted in rooms that felt curated, but also warm and inviting.”
In every room, the combination of old and new grounded the design while also giving them an “easy aura,” as Mauney puts it. Many of the elements in the home were part of the homeowners’ collection, from rugs, art, and antiques to lighting and accessories.
“Rather than imposing a certain look, we aimed to select beautiful pieces that worked with the homeowners’ existing art and rugs while also quieting the interiors in a way that allowed the gardens to be part of the visual experience,” Mauney explains. “I like the tension that old things bring to new ones, and I like a balance of masculine and feminine. I am always looking for ways to balance these attributes through color, texture, scale, textiles, lighting, etc. My goal, in the end, is to create a room that is more than just a room—I want it to evoke emotion.”
The Trivisonnos’ home is a mix of old, new, French, modern, wood craftsmanship, impeccable architecture, and quality construction—a masterpiece of moving parts that come together on a grand scale to create the ultimate singular residential experience for this particular family. From the truly impressive entry hall with a groin-vault ceiling designed by Smith to the cozy master bedroom with antique furniture paired with modern touches and luxe linens, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
For a builder, the complexity of a project is simultaneously challenging and exciting, as Goodwin can attest. “As a homebuilder focused on utmost quality of construction, I tend to become absorbed with the details, and the inevitable issues that come up on a daily basis for such a complex project can be tedious,” he says. “The most rewarding time for me, however, is after the homeowners move in, and I can visit without a to-do list. Delivering the highest quality materials and workmanship of the highest standards on a project with this level of complexity and sophistication is never so satisfying as witnessing the beauty of the finished product as an integrated whole.”